Contents

Plot

The film consists of two stories that are unrelated and have
different actors, titled "Fiction" and "Non-Fiction". "Fiction",
starring Selma
Blair, is about a group of college students in a creative
writing class taught by a professor who has affairs with his
students. "Non-Fiction", starring Paul Giamatti and John Goodman, is about the filming of a
high school student and his family through the college application
process.

Third
story

The original version of the film featured a third story,
concerning, among other things, a closeted football player
played by actor James van der
Beek.[1] After being
shown in several film festivals, for unknown reasons the entire
story was cut from the final version.[2]

Red box
controversy

During the sex scene in the "Fiction" part of the film, a red
box was added for the American version of the film, blocking the
audience's view of a rough sex scene between Selma Blair and Robert
Wisdom. This was used to bend the rules of the MPAA's rating
system, allowing the film to obtain the R rating instead of NC-17.
Initially the red box was to have had the word "Censored" on it,
but the MPAA also deemed this unacceptable because they do not
consider themselves censors. Solondz described the addition of the
box as a political statement: "I was prepared to make that
political statement. This is something I've always been prepared to
do, as long as the audience is aware of what it's not allowed to
see. That's how I feel "politically" about that. (...)" [3] The box is not
present in the international version of the film, although in the
American DVD release, both options are available.